By Olivia Day For Daily Mail Australia
15:35 18 Feb 2024, updated 15:36 18 Feb 2024
A mortgage broker with an impressive property portfolio has shared his top money-saving hacks for young Aussies looking to get on the housing ladder.
Quang Huynh, 39, a Sydney-based home loan expert, has revealed how he built his enviable eight-property portfolio in Sydney.
He also warned those serious about saving for a deposit that they would have to forgo expensive concert tickets, eating out and going to parties.
‘If you can’t do this, you’re a spoilt, entitled Gen Z,’ he said.
‘Wannabe homeowners should not be eating out.’
Additionally, he directed a message to young people who lack interest in purchasing a property.
‘Gen Z’s are like “I don’t need to buy a property in my life, I’m okay where I am.”
‘Then why you living in your mum’s basement?
‘Why are you lining up trying to rent a small shoebox for $900 a week?’
Treat yourself – but only when you have reached your goals
‘Yes you can treat yourself but it’s good to have a set of goals,’ the broker advises.
‘Then you can go for a treat, you can get UberEats or go to a concert at the end of the year, but you shouldn’t do it unless you’ve achieved your saving goals.
‘Otherwise you can go back to the old treadmill of spending money on concerts, events and parties.’
He also advised young Aussies to stop drinking and buying alcohol.
‘You need 100 per cent clarity to achieve this goal,’ he explained.
‘So you have no time to be drunk.’
Swap nights out for nights in and meal prep
Mr Huynh said meal prepping was an easy way to save money fast.
He said a simple lunch of chicken breast and greens was ten times cheaper than buying a salad that can cost between $15 to $18.
‘Obviously there is the mission of cooking it, but then you’ve got to think: “what’s my North Star?”,’ the broker said.
He said Gen Z were usually dining out just to keep up with their friends.
‘I don’t think it’s because of the food. I think it’s just trying to keep up with your mates and that socialising circle,’ he said.
‘So that’s why it’s good to have an accountability partner where it’s not so lonely, where all your mates are spending but you’re not spending and you’re like the boring person or the mature person.’
Get a sidehustle
The broker recommended choosing a side hustle like delivering for Woolworths or Uber Eats or signing up to be an extra in a film or TV ad.
‘If you were to be serious and go hard on those side hustles you would definitely get an extra $20-30,000 a year.’
Don’t rent in an expensive suburb
He explained that a common error wannabe homeowners make is trying to save for a house deposit while still paying rent in expensive suburbs.
‘You’ve got to live like a povo for 12 months before you live like a king for the rest of your life,’ he said.
Turn the act of saving into a positive habit
Mr Huynh said Gen Z and Millennials tended to approach saving money as something negative or something their parents were always pestering them to do.
‘There’s a loop, there’s a queue, there’s a routine and a reward and there needs to be ways to prompt people to save money and have a rewarding experienced behind it.
He said people starting from scratch should aim to put $100 aside each month before increasing the amount to $500 and then $1,000.
Savers should reward themselves if they skip a party or refrain from buying expensive concert tickets by buying an iced latte or other treat.
‘So it’s like a small reward to say, hey, savings good and then just cultivating that habit. Saving something, rather than nothing,’ the expert said.
‘And then building that habit slowly where it becomes like, oh, I look forward to saving because there’s positive reinforcement behind it.
‘So it’s approaching it from a psychological point of view and just hacking the brain rather than just going cold turkey.’
The broker then recommended switching to cold showers.
‘I did this when I was 21 before I bought my first property and it improved my killer instinct. Plus it gives your immune system a super boost,’ he said.
Tap into your ‘Why’
Mr Huynh said figuring out what you are saving for will keep you focused and motivated to save money, whether it’s for a home, car or other investment.
‘So I usually tell people to read the book by Simon Sinek, Start with Why, and ask themselves what is your North Star, why are you saving?’ he explained.
‘Because it’s actually practically very hard to delay gratification and have that restraint, especially when you’re in like Gen Z culture when you’ve got Taylor Swift tickets, the weekends and Ticketek advertising stuff on Facebook.
‘So you’ve got to remind yourself what is your North Star? Because if you don’t really do that you’ll get really bummed out that you’re missing out.’
Despite it being a ‘bit cheesy,’ Mr Huynh recommends his clients create a vision board, which can be made for free on apps like Canva.
‘I know it’s kindergarten stuff but you can do a vision board. Put your dream home on it, and maybe you can’t buy the Double Bay mansion but it’s the motivation,’ he said.
‘So every time you’re like about pay for something like a ticket you can look at it and go, no I’d better not because that’s my North Star.
‘I’ve got to remind myself that I want to buy that property.’
Have an accountability partner
Having an accountability partner who is also saving for a home and can keep you on track helps make the journey to a deposit less lonely, Mr Huynh explained.
The broker said having someone that asks whether your money-saving goals were achieved that month can help you see where you’re going wrong.
‘So you have a person that would be like, “hey, have you saved $1,000 that you claimed that you would be saving this month?’
‘And you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t” they may ask you what happened so it keeps you accountable and I think this has helped a lot of people.’
Don’t buy into misconceptions
‘Don’t tell yourself that owning a home is the ultimate indicator of success,’ Mr Huynh said.
He said his clients could put pressure on themselves to buy a ‘perfect’ first home that would impress their friends and family.
‘Your first home doesn’t need to be perfect, it could be just something that’s small, maybe out of your vicinity of a nice suburb, but at least it’s affordable,’ he said.
‘Instead of thinking you bought a shoe box you embarrassed to tell people about, treat it like a milestone to buy something small now.’
Mr Huynh said it’s important people don’t think they’re tied to a house forever.
‘People think if they buy a home they have to live in it for the rest of their lives and pay off the mortgage for 30 years. No, you don’t need to,’ he said.
‘Live in it for 12 months just to get all that advantages and then rent it out and then you can continue living where you are but with rental income.’
Take advantage of the Super Saver scheme
The First Home Super Saver Scheme allows people to make voluntary contributions into a savings account.
Employees can ask their employer to deduct a portion of their pay before tax which can be used to buy their first home down the track.
‘It’s that out of sight, out of mind thing,’ Mr Huynh said.
The money gets taxed less when it goes into the super savers account and therefore it beats putting that money into a high interest savings account because that interest charge on that money gets taxed as well.
‘You can put up to $50,000 into the account and it’s a free service. A lot of people don’t know that, they think there’s fees and they have to qualify for it.’
The broker said any withdrawals from the account had to be approved by the service and that the money was strictly to be used for a house deposit.
He said it could help people who can become overwhelmed by urges to spend money by only leaving them with a certain amount of their pay.
Take advantage of the first home guarantees
Mr Huynh said that using the First Home Guarantee means people looking to purchase their first home can receive a 95 per loan and a 5 per cent deposit.
This means they’ll only pay $40,000 deposit on a $800,000 property.
First-time buyers in NSW may also be eligible for a stamp duty exemption, which can save up to $40,000, and mortgage insurance, about $10,000.
Mr Huynh said buyers who live in the home for the first 12 months can be exempt from paying tax on the property if they sell it within six years.
His advice comes as data reveals conditions for renters are expected to remain tough throughout 2024.
According to data from the latest PropTrack Rental Report, Australian rental listings are at a record low level.
Over the last year, the median rental listing price ballooned by 11.5 per cent to $580 per week, fuelled by limited demand.
The report found that rental stocks were at record lows due to population growth, forcing renters to pay more.
In December, the number of new listings on realestate.com.au were down 20.7 per cent on the December 10-year average and down 4.6 per cent on a year prior.
Similarly, total listings were down a whopping 30.2 per cent on the December 10-year average, having fallen by 4.7 per cent over the last 12 months.
